House GOP has spent 1.5 Million fighting DOMA

House GOP has spent 1.5 Million fighting DOMA

House Republicans have officially hit the $1.5 million mark in their
relentless pursuit of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),
and American taxpayers are footing the bill. The milestone means House
Republicans have spent all the taxpayer dollars available to them on
defending DOMA – will Speaker Boehner raise the limit once again, and
continue using the hard-earned dollars of Americans to fund
discrimination?

If history is any indication, Speaker Boehner likely will raise the
cap. The majority of the American public supports marriage equality, and
the House Republican’s legal case has failed in all five federal courts
hearing DOMA cases. Despite this, Boehner has previously raised the cap
– which originally stood at $500,000.

HRC Legislative Director Allison Herwitt released the following statement in response to today’s DOMA milestone:

“It’s unbelievable that House Republicans continue to pour taxpayer
dollars into a case aimed solely at discriminating against Americans. In
poll after poll, we see that voters do not view marriage equality as a
critical issue for lawmakers – likely because a good majority of the
country already supports it. The American people need job creation and
infrastructure improvements.

“Instead of focusing on the real problems that impact people’s
livelihood, Speaker Boehner and House Republicans are instead funneling
money into an issue that does nothing to improve conditions for the
millions of Americans in need of help, and actually harms loving and
committed same-sex couples looking to start their own families.”

Under DOMA, even lawfully-married couples are denied access to more
than 1,100 rights, benefits and responsibilities under federal law.
These include Social Security survivor benefits, federal employee health
benefits for spouses, protections against spouses losing their homes in
cases of severe medical emergencies, the right to sponsor a foreign
born partner for immigration, the guarantee of family and medical leave
and the ability to file joint tax returns, among many others.